


Surpassing Dreams

by Passions



Series: Just Breathe 'Verse [2]
Category: California Solo (2012), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 17:49:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/827105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Passions/pseuds/Passions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle takes Lachlan up on his offer of dinner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surpassing Dreams

“Tony, you have to help me!”

“Calm down for a second, Bells. What’s going on?”

She certainly wasn’t hyperventilating. Belle didn’t hyperventilate. Definitely not over dates. Perhaps she was breathing a little bit heavier than normal, but that was only because she was rushing home from class. “I need your help!”

“Yeah, I got that bit. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what to wear!” Belle would forever deny how whiny she sounded at the moment. She’d never before had this much of a crisis over clothes.

There was silence on the other end of the call for a moment before Tony spoke again. “You don’t know what to wear? For what?”

Belle groaned. She’d failed to tell Tony really anything about getting to know Lachlan. He would freak if she told him now and she didn’t have time to deal with the fallout. “A - I’ve got a date.”

She could hear her friend snickering through the connection. “An important date, is it?” He asked. “Who is it then?”

Belle rolled her eyes as she unlocked the outer door to her apartment building and stepped through, locking it again behind her. “Doesn’t matter. Just - What should I wear? What do guys like?”

“Well, we don’t all have the same taste, Belle. I could give you a much better idea if I knew who you were dressing up for.”

“Maybe you don’t know him.” She snapped as she let herself into her thrid floor apartment.

“Woah. A bit touchy about it, are you? Fine. What’s the date? What are you doing?”

Belle pulled the piece of paper Lachlan had given her out of her purse, brushing her thumb over the address he had written down. “Dinner. At his place.”

“Have you been holding out on me?” Tonys voice was higher pitched than it had been before. “How long have you been seeing this guy?”

“This is our first date.” And that was true. Despite all of their discussions, this was the first date they’d had.

“What? Belle you can’t go to some guy’s place on the first date! What do you even know about him? What if he’s a rapist? What if he’s a serial killer?”

Belle chuckled. “He’s not.”

“You can’t know that!”

“I can too!” She sighed. “We’ve been … talking for months now, Tony. And face-to-face, not online or anything, so don’t worry about that. I know he’s not going to hurt me.”

There was some indistinct grumbling from Tony, but eventually he seemed to settle. “Fine. Okay. I’ll be over in a minute.” Her phone clicked as he hung up. He lived in the same apartment building as her, a couple of floors up, so Belle went to look in her closet and pull out some possiblities until he knocked on the door, which he did soon enough.

“So.” He said, as he looked at what was layed out across her bed. “This is a first date. We don’t want to be too fancy. Just sort of … dressy casual.”

Belle raised an eyebrow at him. “Bit of an oxymoron, that.”

He just rolled his eyes and tossed something at her. “Go try that on.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eventually they had decided on a beige silk dress with a cinched waist and black lace detailing on the butterfly sleeves, paired with thick black tights and a cameo necklace on a long chain. She kept her makeup simple and her hair down but pinned away from her face. A pair of black suede boots and her peacock blue flared peacoat completed her look as she stood outside the address Lachlan had given her, her hand poised to knock.

The outside of the house was charming, the left half of a duplex on a quiet street with a lovely small garden below the front window. She let her knuckles rap against the dark wood of the door a few times and waited.

It was only a few seconds before the door opened to reveal Lachlan, smiling at her. She smiled back and some of the nervousness in her eased.

He let her in and took her coat, hanging it up in the small closet underneath the stairs that led to the next level of the house. Then he held his hand out to her and she tentatively placed her palm in his. He grinned and tugged her gently to follow him. “Kitchen’s this way.”

The inside of the house was just as lovely as the outside, all wood floors and cream walls and warm lighting. The kitchen was at the back of the house, past the living room which had a black leather couch with a television in front of it and a fireplace behind. It looked cozy.

Belle closed her eyes and inhaled as Lachlan led her into the kitchen. “Whatever you’re making smells amazing.” She opened her eyes to smile shyly at him. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

He dropped his hold on her hand to place his own on the small of her back and lead her to a seat at the kitchen island that evidently doubled as his table. Not really surprising for a man who lived alone. Which he clearly did. She had seen some pictures in the hall of his daughter and of his brother, but there didn’t seem to be any evidence of another person living in the house. 

She turned her attention back to him as he poured two glasses of red wine and placed one in front of her and one in front of his own place, beside her.

He turned back to the oven and she leaned forward to see better as he pulled the food out and set it on the stove. She was definitely not paying any attention to the way the denim of his jeans stretched so nicely over his really rather nice arse. 

She knew she was still blushing when he turned to face her again, plates in hand. He just grinned at her as he placed on in front of her and the other by his glass of wine before turning back again to put something else into the oven and bring a cutting board over to the island, placing it in front of their plates. It held a freshly baked loaf of bread as well as a small glass dish of butter and larger dish of jam.

He pushed up the sleeves of his brown jumper and she tried not to acknowledge the tensing and releasing of the muscles in his arms as he cut a few slices from the bread before coming around the island again to sit beside her. He gave her a lopsided smile as he looked at their plates which were bare save for a large pepper on each.

“Looks a bit silly all by itself, now that I see it. But they’re very filling.”

Belle grinned as she looked down at her plate, closing her eyes again to take in the wonderful scent. “What’ve you stuffed them with?”

“Wild rice. Some mushrooms, some sausage. Cheese on top, obviously. Go ahead and try it.” He was smiling softly as he looked at her and took a sip of his wine as he gestured with his fork for her to begin.

She cut the pepper in half and her plate looked much more full as the rice all spilled out of it. She gathered some rice on her fork and speared a piece of sausage as well, careful as she brought it to her lips so she didn’t accidentally make a mess. She sighed in delight as she chewed and swallowed. 

“That’s so good, Lachalan.” His eyes glinted and his smile widened. “Did you learn to make them while you were in California?”

“Aye. Learned a lot abou’ vegetables over there.”

“Well I’m glad. This is fantastic.”

“I’m glad ye like it. The jelly,” he pointed to the dish near the bread, “is from over there as well. Grape. From the farm I worked on.”

“Sounds delicious.” She smiled.

She couldn’t stop smiling. She always enjoyed talking with Lachlan and doing it over dinner was no different. They quickly fell into their normal pattern of conversation. He asked her about her day (exciting - there had been a guest lecturer in to discuss the connection between visual art and poetry during the era of the Romantics) and in turn told her about his day at the music shop (very good - he’d had two more teens sign up for the introductory guitar lessons he was giving). It was just as comfortable as any talking they had done while at the library, and the fluttering in her tummy vanished almost immediately as they fell into discussion.

It was one of the best dinners Belle could remember having in some time. The food was perfect and the company was quickly becoming her favourite sort of company. She was perhaps still slightly worried about the age gap between them, that she would prove herself to be unworthy of him. She was even still a little worried by the pervasive idea that musicians didn’t do long term monogomy well. But any of those sorts of thought vanished in the face of his smile, his warmth, the tingles that raced through her whenever their skin brushed. She made a conscious decision to live in the moment and only worry about such things if they ever came up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She had finished her glass of wine by the time she finished her food and he topped up her glass for her as the timer on the oven went off. 

“Desert?” He asked, his eyes sparkling. He went to remove whatever what it was - apples and spices of some sort - from the oven, before going to retrieve a tub of ice cream from his freezer. Belle groaned as he served her a piece of apple crumble topped with vanilla ice cream.

He looked slightly concerned as he looked at her. “I know it doesnae look like much, but it’s good, I promise.”

She chuckled as she shook her head. “It looks delicious.” She grinned as she looked up at him. “You’re feeding me too well.” She rested her hand over her stomach. “Gonna have to hit the gym tomorrow.”

He was frowning as she met his eyes again. “Belle - ” He stopped himself, taking a moment before shrugging and speaking again. “I mean - If ye wannae go tae the gym, tha’s yer choice. But no’ for this.” he waved his hand at the food. “Ye’re - uh - perfect just as ye are.” It was the first time she’d ever seen him hide his eyes from her, her own wide as she stared at his dropped head.

“Uhm. Thanks.” She could feel the blood in her face as he nodded at her and gathered his own desert before seating himself beside her again. There was a slightly awkward silence for a few moments, but then he brought up the subject of the library and the lastest book he was reading and the conversation picked up again and continued through their desert, the last of their wine, and some tea. And then she didn’t really have an excuse to stay any longer. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“At least let me walk ye home, Belle. It’s - ” His eyes widened as he looked at the clock in the kitchen, “Christ, almost eleven.”

She shook her head and smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

He looked physically pained by the idea of letting her walk home alone. “Please? It’ll make me feel a lot better. Besides, it isn’t that far.”

She looked at him for a moment but finally sighed and relented. “Fine.” She smiled gently as her voice softened. “Thank you.”

He smiled and fetched her coat and boots as well as his own boots and leather jacket, locking the door to the house once they were outside.

It was a lovely night, chilly but not windy, so it was easily bearable. And clear. The stars were beautiful.

They walked side by side down the street, gradually moving closer to each other until their arms were bumping constantly with their movements, and then suddenly her hand was wrapped in his, their fingers interlocked, and the butterflies were back all over again as his thumb rubbed gently over hers. She didn’t even notice the cold of the night past the heat that was suffusing her as they got to her apartment, stopping outside the outer door. She unlocked it and he followed her into the vestibule of the building, their hands still connected.

She turned to him shyly, glancing up at him through her lashes. “I, uh, had a really great time tonight.”

He beamed at her. “Good. I’m glad. Would ye like tae do it again sometime?”

She bit her lip as she smiled and nodded. “I’d like that a lot.”

He nodded slowly as he stared at her face. “Good. Good thing.”

She watched his eyes flick from her own down to her lips and back up to her eyes again, her own gaze following the same path across his own face. She nodded slightly as she stepped closer to him and raised her face to his. And then his lips were on hers, soft and warm and oh, so gentle.

His fingers slipped into her hair and he tilted her head slightly so that he could deepen the kiss, licking at her lips to get her to open for him, which she was only too happy to do, sighing in pleasure as he licked into her mouth.

All too soon he pulled his mouth away from hers and she felt him lean his forehead against hers, though her eyes were shut. When she opened her eyes, he was staring down at her, his thumb rubbing over her cheek slowly.

“I should let ye get tae bed.”

She shivered at his voice, lower and more hoarse than she had ever heard it. And gods, if she had thought he sounded like sex before … 

She nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I should let you go home.”

He grinned. “Tomorrow’s Friday. I’ll see ye at the library.”

She smiled and nodded. “I’ll see you there.”

There was a tense moment as they stared at each other and then his mouth was covering hers again, but only for a moment before he pulled away again. 

“Tomorrow.” he rasped.

She nodded. “Tomorrow.”

He grinned and let himself out of the building and she locked the door behind him before heading into the building, stumbling to the elevator on shaky legs. Sometimes she pushed herself to take the three flights of stairs, but there was no way that was happening tonight.

She let herself into her apartment, going through her nightly routine quickly with, she was sure, a huge grin on her face the entire time. Finally she collapsed back onto her bed, crawling under the covers and allowing herself to just remember. 

She fell asleep with a smile on her face and she was still smiling when she woke up the next morning.


End file.
